How in the world do you keep your favorite treats in the house ?

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Ducks47
Ducks47 Posts: 131 Member
edited April 2019 in Motivation and Support
I just tried keeping my favorite in the house and having a little every day with the logic that I wouldn’t feel deprived if I got some each day. Well, it was a catastrophe. At first I practiced portion control but then i came back and started picking at it until I full blown just demolished it. I’m now at maintenance for the day... not a good day. Now I’m tempted to just go eat more. Tl;dr: Maybe I need to give up my favorite dessert.
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  • vanityy99
    vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
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    My treats are at the store, if I want something I just go to the corner store and pick it up I don’t usually have it laying around at the house. The most I have is popcorn and that’s stored in the kitchen cabinet two doors away from the stove.
  • Ducks47
    Ducks47 Posts: 131 Member
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    MikePTY wrote: »
    Some people are moderators, some are not. It doesn't work for everyone, at least not always in the beginning. If you are finding that there are certain things that you struggle to moderate with, it may be best to give them up cold turkey, at least for a while until you are further along in your journey and feel like you will have more control to reintroduce them.

    Yea, I was successful for a week and then full blown porked out. I’m giving it up cold turkey for a month. I’ve decided. It’s going to be hard for me. Thank you for your insight.
  • Ducks47
    Ducks47 Posts: 131 Member
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    vanityy99 wrote: »
    My treats are at the store, if I want something I just go to the corner store and pick it up I don’t usually have it laying around at the house. The most I have is popcorn and that’s stored in the kitchen cabinet two doors away from the stove.


    I need to do that in the future. If it’s around the house I’m good for a while until I’m not. That’s my issue with baking too. If I bake all bets are off. Thanks for this advice.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    If you can't moderate your intake, then it might be best to keep it out of the house. Otherwise depending on what it is you could hide it or freeze it. That may not work depending on how determined you are.

    My absolute favourite treat isn't sold where I live (Canada), so that works for me :)
  • Ducks47
    Ducks47 Posts: 131 Member
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    sardelsa wrote: »
    If you can't moderate your intake, then it might be best to keep it out of the house. Otherwise depending on what it is you could hide it or freeze it. That may not work depending on how determined you are.

    My absolute favourite treat isn't sold where I live (Canada), so that works for me :)

    So I take it your fav isn’t a nice poutine or some maple cookies hAhah. I’m keeping it out of the house. Thanks !!

  • cheriej2042
    cheriej2042 Posts: 241 Member
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    I feel your pain. I either have to have a complete moratorium or it ends up being a binge. I don't know why but if I don't have them at least in the house (unopened) I start thinking about these foods a lot. It makes it worse. So now I have them in my pantry but I only give myself a cheat day every few months. That way I don't feel deprived and i have something to look forward to. Just make sure you don't start stockpiling for the cheat day which can then end up as cheat days! I've done that too :(
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,160 Member
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    I my case with a wife and then 2 teenagers I could not keep anything out of the house back in Oct 2014 so I just decided to not eat my craving/binging triggers. After about 30 days their controlling powers started to fade and have never returned. Tonight there was a small bottle of honey and maple syrup by the kitchen sink. I ate a couple tablespoons of the orange blossom honey was good. I liked to have gagged on the pure maple syrup since it has been years since I tasted it.

    When I realized it was a matter of life or death in my case even eating at McDonalds and watching other eat an icecream cone is not a temptation.

  • purple4sure05
    purple4sure05 Posts: 287 Member
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    Ducks47 wrote: »
    I just tried keeping my favorite in the house and having a little every day with the logic that I wouldn’t feel deprived if I got some each day. Well, it was a catastrophe. At first I practiced portion control but then i came back and started picking at it until I full blown just demolished it. I’m now at maintenance for the day... not a good day. Now I’m tempted to just go eat more. Tl;dr: Maybe I need to give up my favorite dessert.

    You could try pre packaging them into serving sizes and plan how much you'll eat per day. For me it works because if I eat some from a second package, I know I'm stealing from my treats for tomorrow lol.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    My husband and I have both had to make a few (MINOR) sacrifices in this area.

    There are certain treats that we can both eat in moderation, so we have those around...things like semisweet or dark chocolate squares, marshmallows, and "less appealing" cookies like plain vanilla Maria wafers or mini packs of Biscoff cookies. We both can moderate peanuts and walnuts so we have those on hand instead of other nuts that are more appealing.

    I am able to moderate ice cream and almonds/pecans, but my husband is not. He'll binge on those things...I used to love having English toffee ice cream bars on hand for an after dinner treat at around 190 cal but he considers three bars to be his serving size.

    He is able to moderate things like Oreo cookies and fun size chocolate bars (Halloween candy for example) but I am not. So we don't have those in the house, and just buy single servings when we are out & about and crave that particular thing.

    I also bake a lot and give away some of what I've made so we just have 2-3 servings on hand, instead of a dozen.
  • SteroidalLolita
    SteroidalLolita Posts: 122 Member
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    Personally I don't have a huge problem ignoring things I love. For example, I really love to bake- and I'm great at it! But I always bake waaaay too much. I give myself one day during the week that I can have exactly one of whatever it is that I've baked. I bring them to work with me and get the satisfaction of other people enjoying what I've made and my boyfriend eats whatever's left at home.

    I do know how hard it is to ignore temptation for different personalities, though, so I wouldn't go out of your way to beat yourself up about it.

    Instead of keeping whatever your favorite treat is in the house, it may be better to seek out a smaller and healthier version of it when you can or reward yourself with it.
  • AustinRuadhain
    AustinRuadhain Posts: 2,574 Member
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    If it helps to know you have lots of company, I had to talk to my husband and kid and get their agreement to not have my trigger item (ice cream) in the house. They could go our for it, or they could get a pint to bring home and eat that day, but I needed to not be able to fish it out of the freezer to nibble on. Eventually, it became "not food" for me, so we now occasionally have some in the house. My husband got interested in getting in shape, and made his "not in the house" list as well.

    If you are struggling, you might find the quiz and some of the tools and videos at Bright Line Eating of interest.
    https://brightlineeating.com/
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,962 Member
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    sardelsa wrote: »
    If you can't moderate your intake, then it might be best to keep it out of the house. Otherwise depending on what it is you could hide it or freeze it. That may not work depending on how determined you are.

    My absolute favourite treat isn't sold where I live (Canada), so that works for me :)

    You know, I moved to the complete opposite corner of the country to get away from my mother but I never thought of moving to another country to escape Ben & Jerry.

    I'm guessing Canada has B & J so that probably wouldn't work. My mother found me, too. :lol:

    For the original post: I have to not buy the stuff. I've tried for years to "learn" to moderate and I am not able to. I just accept when I buy it that I'll eat all of it in one sitting.

    Eating over your maintenance calories one day per week won't derail the whole process. I still buy cookies. I just eat them and then don't do it again for a week or so.

  • pjwrt
    pjwrt Posts: 166 Member
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    I don't keep pastries at the house. Period. Yesterday, I put the tasty potato chips back on the store shelf and bought organic trail mix, instead. Substituted tasty treats for hippie food, see?

    I do have York mini-patties around for my sweet tooth, but I've never been able to eat more than three without feeling nauseous.
  • lovelylosses
    lovelylosses Posts: 27 Member
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    I'm not sure everyone *can* keep faves in the house. For the most part, I don't, simply because I don't want anything to go stale. I crave salt, and if you open a bag of chips, they'll go soft/depressing rather quickly. I have fairly iron will power when I set my mind to something (on the flip side, if I give up - I REALLY give up). Right now, I have a small bag of Doritos in the kitchen and they've been there for three weeks so far.

    For me, it's almost like a mental game. I dare myself to resist, and then I dare myself to keep resisting, and on and on... but I also don't treat it like a zero sum game either. If I want to have the Doritos, I can. I just have to make sure it fits in my macros / calories, and that I *really* want them. So far, I haven't wanted them enough to give up other foods.

    I think it gets easier to resist when you keep things in the house (for me), because it doesn't make my brain go into the mode of "omg, there are obviously no chips left on earth... you must eat some NOW" but for others (incl my husband), it doesn't work at all. And as long as you're honest about which type of person you are, you're setting yourself up for success.

  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
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    For me, all foods that I like can be “trigger” foods. I had to learn to moderate it all. I found that if it’s there, just knowing it’s there, and knowing there is a limit helps me moderate. I know that seems like it could be goal defeating, but it really works for me. Total restriction makes me want it more.
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
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    I have some foods I can moderate, and some a can't or prefer not to. Can moderate foods get to stay in the house and I can add them to my calories for the day. Can't/ Won't moderate foods I buy when I want them and try to plan them out. I still enjoy those foods, but reduce the frequency of which I bring them to my house. Cheeze its for example, I will only open the box if I am okay with polishing off half a box that day.

    One thing that helps is to not be super hungry when I'm around those foods. If there is a bag of chips available, and I'm too hungry to wait for dinner, you bet I'm going to eat too many. It's also helpful to get single serving types of things. Because then you're limited to how much you can have access to, and still get the craving out of the way.
  • ultra_violets
    ultra_violets Posts: 202 Member
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    I live with other people (unavoidably) and they have a MASSIVE sweet tooth. They eat a lot of junk and the kitchen is always crammed with cakes, cookies, candy, ice cream, pizza, french fries, etc. When I was trying to diet regularly it was a nightmare. I'm a food addict, so imagine an alcoholic having to live in a liquor store. The only thing that helped me was starting keto. Once I cut out the processed sugar and the empty carbs, it was like flipping a switch. I just don't want it anymore. It doesn't even look like food to me. It's just about cutting the connection between the foods that are chemically engineered to make you crave them and the pleasure center in your brain. Once you do that, it's easy.
  • kimber0607
    kimber0607 Posts: 994 Member
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    I think it is different for everyone.,..I wanted to believe i had enough control to have anything in the house..but that's just not the case. I have 2 teen-agers in the house so we have snacks etc.....but there are certain foods i know are triggers and i just cant buy
    BUT I also have some fun foods that i can eat in moderation and measure or count out to make sure i keep my cals under control
    Knowing that I can have a bit or piece whenever i want..as long as I remain within cals..keeps me from binging

    GL its def not easy..and i have had days that ive gone off the rails
    tomorrow is a new day to start over!
    Just because you went a little over cals..doesnt mean you should toss in the towel and eat whatever for the rest of the day (though i know easier said than done)
  • DropofHoney
    DropofHoney Posts: 58 Member
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    I have a very "All or Nothing" mentality and have come to accept that I can NEVER keep anything I love in the house. If I have a bag of cookies I will eat ALLLLLLLLLL the cookies and keep telling myself "Well if I finish them today I can start fresh tomorrow". My home and my office are off limits to all the things I can't control..

    But then again I ate a pound of baby carrots at my office the day before yesterday because I didn't realize I was eating them til they were gone and I had an awful sore stomach.. lOL

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